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So, I have no doubt what really happened.
Still, I’ve allowed Maddox Hawthorne to think that I don’t know the truth. Until I can figure out how to come back at him. We’re already running so low on numbers, the recent bloodshed diminishing the family. It's why my father agreed to the truce in the first place. Because you can’t win a war when you don’t even have soldiers to fight it.
So now I have to play the long game, which is fine because I plan on winning no matter what.
Vito pulls the car to a stop outside of a building that looks like it should have been demolished two decades ago. This is where the informant wanted to meet. Right in the middle of Seven Quad territory. It could be a trap, something I’ve had to consider a million times. But I also don’t have a choice. If I’m to take Maddox down, I need insider knowledge on him.
Everything my father knew about the man died with him. He hadn’t confided in Vito’s father as much as he probably should have, but I have a feeling the man wouldn’t tell me what he knows anyway just out of spite.
None of the older members had been happy about their dismissals from their positions, despite the fact that I hadn’t just kicked them out of the family. I could have very easily killed them all, Maximo would have smiled as he placed each bullet. Instead, I’d dressed up their dismissals with a bow and an invitation to still be part of the party.
The lack of thanks and appreciation hadn’t gone unnoticed.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to go in with you?” Vito asks, his jaw tight as he turns around to look at me.
He’d wanted Maximo to come with us, but my brother is still heavy in his celebrations of our father’s death and has been drunk twenty-four seven for the last two weeks. He would have served as backup while Vito waited in the car in case anything popped off.
Instead, we’re down to a two man team.
“No, someone has to live to tell the story if anything goes wrong,” I say dryly. Sighing, I meet his eyes in the mirror. “If anything happens to me, have mercy on my brother.”
He scoffs, “If anything happens to you, you mean God should have mercy on us all, because Maximo is going to burn the entire city down.”
He’s right.
Despite the fact that my relationship isn’t perfect with my brother, he’d still have my back come hell or high water. I have faith that instead of celebrating my death, he’d avenge it, burning the city down brick by brick, person by person.
“In that case, if anything happens, call Lucia.”
I need to contact my cousin anyway, and discuss her coming back to the family. I hadn’t agreed with my father kicking her out in the first place and now that he’s gone, and so is his entourage, there’s no reason Lucia can’t come back.
If anything happens to me, she may be the only hope of getting Maximo to keep his head on straight.
Clearing my throat, I nod my head, not saying another word to Vito as I climb out of the car. It’s dark out, the streetlights just barely illuminating my surroundings. The smell of the sewer fills the air, rank and loud.
I find the entrance to the building and I remain hesitant as I make my way inside. I keep one hand on my gun, but it isn’t until I get deep in the abandoned building that I spot another human.
He’s alone, leaning against the wall. He has a jacket pulled tight across his body and even from here I can see the way he’s shivering.
It’s summer time.
I frown. I have no respect for addicts and I know better than to take them at their word. They’ll say anything they can to go to their next hit.
This man is just as likely to feed my false information on Maddox to get his hands on the family’s product as he is to tell the truth.
When he spots me, he perks up, moving quickly in my direction.
I hold out a hand. “Not too close,” I warn him. I can already smell the must and liquor on his body and I wrinkle my nose. His head is completely bald, his brown eyes frantic as they move around the room, and I know if he were to uncover his brown skin, I’d spot track marks up and down his arms.
“What do you have to tell me?” I ask him, never lowering my guard.
Paul rubs his arms, his mouth opening before he shake his head. “I know something about Maddox.”
I raise a brow, nodding. “Yes, I know that. What is it that you know?”
“My wife, she’s his sister.”
Annoyance moves through me. “I know Dox has a sister, she doesn’t live here anymore, so she’s not important.”
